


Acceptance

by AHeartForStories



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Coming Out, Family Feels, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Talking, Trans AU, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, trans headcanon, trans!hiccup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:21:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27336334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHeartForStories/pseuds/AHeartForStories
Summary: Set during RttE, trans!Hiccup. While away on the Edge, Hiccup has done a lot of introspection that Stoick isn't aware of. When he returns home and finds out that his father knows, Hiccup fears his father's judgment.
Relationships: Astrid & Fishlegs & Hiccup & Ruffnut & Snotlout & Tuffnut, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Stoick the Vast, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless
Comments: 11
Kudos: 90





	Acceptance

**Author's Note:**

> An exploration of some kind, I guess? The first thing I wrote after finishing Whumptober as I apparently craved some Stoick and Hiccup bonding after the serious lack of Stoick and Hiccup bonding that I wrote during Whumptober.
> 
> Constructive criticism is appreciated.  
> Enjoy!

With a heavy heart, Hiccup returns home after a long trip. It takes almost two days for the Dragon Riders to fly from the Edge to Berk and back again and he's been stressed the entire flight.

His dad has found something out about him, something he wasn't supposed to know. Maybe it was even something he was never supposed to find out.

He stands before the front door of his home, knowing he needs to enter, but much too nervous to.

Toothless stands beside him, he rumbles encouragingly and licks Hiccup's hand. Having him by his side always helps Hiccup feel better.

"I can do this, right?" He asks the Night Fury, who nudges his side to tell him to enter. There is only one way to find out.

"Yes, you can. And we'll be here waiting for you if you need us." The one who talks then is Astrid. She and the other Dragon Riders are standing at a distance, watching from the bottom of the steps leading up to the Haddock household.

They know this secret that Hiccup has been keeping from his father and they have been helping him keep it.

That is until someone with a big mouth found out and told the Chief of Berk, leading to a letter being sent requesting Hiccup's return for a talk. The author wants him to explain himself.

It's the most ominous letter he has ever received and he's been close to freaking out ever since.

He hates that his father knows, he hates that he wasn't the one who got to tell him, and he hates that he never got to choose when either. Now he's forced to pick up whatever pieces he can to somehow stick them back together again. If that is still at all possible, that is.

Hiccup sends his friends one last look before he enters, almost feeling like knocking on the front door as if he would be intruding into his own home.

He opens it as silently as he can, cringing at every creak that he hears. He enters and finds his father right there waiting for him, poking into the fire in the pit and making him flashback to every scolding and lecture he has ever received that started out exactly like this.

It's only late afternoon, too. His father shouldn't be home for a little while longer and yet here he is.

Toothless enters after Hiccup, just as nervous and blending right in with the shadows of their home. Hiccup closes it just as silently as he opened it, though he knows Stoick is already aware of his presence.

Knowing he can't just sneak past him, he has tried many times before in the past, Hiccup approaches instead. His pegleg thuds painfully loud on the wood.

Toothless, meanwhile, stays behind. He's here to support his Rider and he always will, but he knows he needs to stay behind for this one. You don't just intrude onto matters between a sire and his offspring. This is something that humans and dragons share.

"Uh... Hey dad," Hiccup reluctantly greets his father, crossing his arms only to uncross them and settle his hands on his hips. He's so nervous that he isn't quite sure how he wants to stand or what he wants to do with his hands. He feels like sitting. Should he grab a stool? But then standing allows him to leave quickly if he feels the need to.

Gods, he's nervous.

"Hiccup." Stoick greets him and though it doesn't sound cold, his tone isn't exactly warm either.

"So, uh... How is my father this fine evening?" Hiccup's question is clumsy and his dread is palpable. He rubs the back of his neck, his palms are sweaty.

Fire poker in one hand, Stoick halts and glances over at Hiccup, not answering his question.

Hiccup, his heir. Hiccup, who has been his one and only child, his only daughter for the past 18 years. But there she stands, hair much shorter than it used to be when she was a little girl. And no dress or skirt or long tunic, but a short tunic with armor and trousers.

Taking his eyes off his only child, Stoick gazes at the fire again and starts poking into the flaming embers.

"Spitelout told me some interesting news upon his return days ago." He tells Hiccup and he nods to show him that he has an idea what news Snotlout's father may have told his.

While visiting the Edge, Spitelout had caught a private conversation between Hiccup and the Riders. It had instantly become anything but private as he had immediately "intervened" and gave Hiccup a piece of his mind. And then he went back to Berk with the promise that Stoick would be hearing of this. Soon after, the letter came.

"And what did he tell you?" Hiccup asks as if he doesn't know, attempting to keep a hold of his trembling self and his trembling self's voice.

After a pause, Stoick straightens on his stool as he needs to think his words over before he speaks again. His many, many talks with Gobber after the news and the many nights of lonely thinking are on repeat in his mind.

"He told me that my daughter was disgracing herself and bringing shame to the Haddock name by pretending that she is a boy." In the end, his words come out harsh and Stoick finds that there is no other way of phrasing it, it's what Spitelout has told him.

He gazes at Hiccup, who can't hide the hurt that he feels when he hears the words his father chooses to use. Hiccup has always been an expressive and sensitive person, more so than any other Viking on Berk. So Stoick can see it clearly, the fact that this isn't just pretend and that something else is going on here, something deeper.

In comparison, Stoick's face is quite unreadable. His thoughts are his own.

Hiccup doesn't know what to do. Should he tell him Spitelout heard wrong and therefore drew the wrong conclusions? Should he tell him that it's pretense to fool Viggo? Or should he just come clean and tell Stoick how he really feels? About the doubts he's been feeling for years, the questions he's had, and how good it feels when his friends call him a 'he'?

With an unswallowable lump in his throat, Hiccup gives Stoick his answer.

"It's true," Hiccup says, his face heating up as his nerves rise. "But it's not pretend."

Stoick simply watches him with no reaction at all. If he wanted to explode, he would've done so already.

That is one advantage to living two days away by dragon, Hiccup supposes. His father must've done all his yelling before Hiccup got home. His silence, though unbearable, it helps him continue.

"It's just... We were... I... Being away from Berk, it's giving us a chance to-to think about things and about how we feel and-and... and stuff, you know?" Hiccup isn't sure how to word any of it. How to explain how he feels or how right it feels or any of the thoughts running in panic through his mind.

His father still doesn't speak. Instead, he just stares at him and Hiccup can't tell if that's a good or a bad thing.

At least he isn't raising his voice at him. Stoick loves him, Hiccup knows this, but a Viking's pride is often everything.

"I don't feel like I should be-should be a-a daughter. I know that-that may sound very strange, but- Ah, how do I even explain this." Hiccup crosses his arms, his nerves suffocating him and stealing his words.

"You don't feel like a daughter? You feel like a son?" But then Stoick finally talks and it almost appears to Hiccup that he wants to help him talk it through the mess in his mind.

If that is the truth, then maybe he still has a chance to help his father understand how he feels.

So he nods hopefully.

"I can't explain what this is or why I feel the way I do, I just know that it feels really good when the Riders refer to me as a "he" instead of a "she", dad. Really, really good. I don't know why." Hiccup explains that he's just as clueless on the matter. All he knows for sure is what feels right to him.

"And that is truly how you feel?" His father asks, still not a hint on what he may be thinking. Hiccup finds himself brave enough to nod.

"When I visit Berk and I have to listen to people call me something that I feel like I'm not... It hurts. It hurts so bad and I never realized how much it hurt and how wrong it felt until the Riders started calling me something that felt right to me." Hiccup is pouring his heart out to his father, hoping beyond hope that he's listening to the words that he's speaking to him.

Stoick nods, but whether this means he understands or not...

"I had no idea," He talks and stokes the fire again. "No idea that you felt this way. Or that it seems like I've had a son instead of a daughter these past 18 years."

Hiccup stares at his father, not sure if he's hearing this right or if this means what he wants it to mean.

"Do-do you-do you mean...?" Hiccup is a brave soul, is called fearless by his friends and rightfully so, but this question he has trouble asking in fear of imagining things. Relief is dying to well up, but he wants to repress it before he's sure.

Halting in his poking of the embers, Stoick pulls a stool closer to him, inviting Hiccup to sit down next to him.

"I admit, I have trouble understanding this, but I know better than to tell Hiccup Haddock how to feel. So how about you sit down and explain it to me?" His father requests softly and Hiccup is sure he might start crying any second now.

He lets his relief be felt and it shows, the fear melts away to make room for happiness.

His dad may not entirely understand him, but this feels like an acceptance. His father accepts him! His worst fear ends up being just that, a fear, and not the truth.

Hiccup's happiness is not lost on Stoick, not with how utterly present it is on his son's face. Though he has many questions, seeing him happy like that feels right to him and so he believes he's doing a good thing by choosing to accept him.

Swallowing the burning lump, able to breathe again, Hiccup walks over and takes a seat next to his father.


End file.
